I find it kind of funny that all these guys in the comments are saying they'd pick the second girl. Because the guys I know in the real world (even the geeky ones) always go for the girls who wear a lot of makeup, aren't the least bit nerdy, and, occasionally, a bit cut throat/stuck up. Almost the exact opposite of what they say they prefer. I'm not trying to be a reverse nice guy either, it's just weird.

I met some twins in highschool, and they were like night and day, despite being twins.

One was very feminine, sweet, colorful, would bat her eyes, smile and act bashful while still being quite confident and charming.

The other wore sort of ratty looking clothes, she had dirty hair in a pony tail, she looked pale, drained out, she was dead quiet most of the time, she would stare at people, and when she approached me she started babbling seemingly at random about the most inappropriate and foot in mouth geeky stuff.

Guess which one seemed more attractive, the first one was, by far. She was like candy and sunshine. The second one had the same genes, but she was creepy in how she made herself look and act. She wasn't repulsive I want to make clear, but she was pretty much screwing herself over and putting the wrong foot forward at every turn.

So yeah, I think guys are just as guilty of what my picture here says. We like awkward nerdy girls, but by that we often mean attractive, funny, and cute acting awkward nerdy girls.

I totally hear you. No one is going to be attracted to people who don't take care of themselves.
I'm talking more about the "nerdy girls" who do take care of themselves and the "pretty" girls who are just...mean. I don't know if guys do the same thing girls do, and mistake being cut throat with confidence or something.

Just for the record, I don't look at myself as a poor little victim nerd girl who gets over looked by all those shallow men or anything. This is just my observation.

I understand, and no I don't think you're coming off as bitter or full of self pity. You're just making an observation.

In my experience mean girls say some funny cruel **** and spread some juicy (although often false) rumors, so they're interesting to listen to, even though at the same time you're thinking "ugh, she is a horrible person".

One mean popular woman around here isn't even attractive, but she is like a popularity rottweiler. She is committed to boosting her popularity and making friends like it's her full time job. She's popular only because she works so hard at it, and socializes and tries to make friends with pretty much everyone who also seems popular. So she does have quite a few friends, but she's also really disliked by most others.

I've known some nerdy pretty girls, but I didn't go for them that often, there was something missing I guess. I like nerdy, I like pretty, and I thought that was most important on paper, but I was actually more drawn to funny, promiscuous women. I was really interested in the kind of woman who is fun, full of life, who didn't make me feel self conscious, and really shows that she's into me.

Maybe it happened because I like that kind of woman more. Maybe it happened because while the nerdy girl was self conscious, awkward and not talking to anyone, the fun girl was being openly appealing with fun. So that means I talked to the fun girl more and got to know and like her better. Once I chose to get close to the fun girl, well I can't blame a nerdy shy girl for feeling that I want the other girl and don't want the shy one.

It makes sense. I think people talk about the kind of person they're looking for based of tv and books and etc. We're used to stories told from an odd or shy person's perspective- we get to know them on an intimate level without having to put in the effort to get to know them. So I think when people say they like "unusual" or shy people, they kind of expect to see all the beautiful parts of them on the outside without having to put in an effort. That's my theory, anyway. I hope any of that made sense.

Hey look at Stephen Colbert, the guy is geeky as anything. He's a left wing idealist, he played a lot of DnD, he's a comic book fan. Yet people absolutely love him.

I honestly think a fair amount of people do like geeks (who are also attractive to them, loyal, sweet, into them, and so forth) but we geeks tend to make some mistakes. We don't flaunt or show their good side with confidence and charm. We take ourselves very seriously and don't show any sense of humor. We don't get out and meet people a lot. If someone talks to us they often hide our true selves and don't do anything to overcome our shyness. We don't make the effort to get to know and befriend others, but expect others to make the effort to get to know us.

At the end of the day we have to level with ourselves and realize that it's up to us. We can't expect everyone else to get to know us when we don't make the effort to even show our true selves, let alone show that we care and want to know other people.

I'd like to stick my dick in the top stereotypical girl, but when it comes to a comfortable and happy long term relationship, the second one would be better. We'd have more in common and I could have a conversation about things beyond just sex and looks that are about games or books or science or something. Just my 2cents.

It's because they 1. Have a tendency to think with the minority in order to feel superior and 2. Believe that if a girl doesn't act "typical" that she automatically won't be a stuck up bitch.
I'm all for the personality over looks thing, but if a girl doesn't even make an effort to look appealing, I don't see why people should look much deeper.

I like a bit of make-up, and for some girls, it works quite well when they have a large amount of dark make-up around their eyes although they look very different with it off. I just like girls to have long hair and pretty much always wear it down. One of the most important things for me, strangely enough. Just below not-being-overweight in importance.

I tend to go for a girl who expresses similar opinions and tastes to me.
My ex was pretty stunning, don't get me wrong, but she liked the same things I did, so it was even more incentive to ask her out.

A pretty face is all well and good, but being able to talk to her about pokemon, Doctor Who, NCIS, and Merlin was even better.

I don't know, I mean, she's obviously more delightful to sight, but after a while it can get pretty boring dating with someone who cares that much about how they look. The second girl is someone who you can talk with, and it's kind of a long-time choice.

I don't teach English, I'm getting a major in Linguistics and I often forget casual speech. And I copypaste from my other coment:
It's a priority choice in most of the cases; if you see someone who looks like she spend an hour dressing, then that's an hour in which the other girl could be kicking asses in Skyrim.
_
I don't say the other one has a horrible personality, I'm just taying that it's probably not one that can complement mine or that from those who think like me.